The Position of the Bolt on the MC

[Walt Cakebread]

And why bother going to the trouble of building a hiding place for the rifle, try to wipe it clean of all prints but leave the empty shells just lying there.

Because ...as another poster pointed out the spent shells were "bread crumbs".... To lead investigators into believing that the shots had been fired from that site and at the same time lure the cops away from the picket fence.

I believe that Lee Oswald was the person who threw down the "bread crumbs" because he wanted investigators who would come looking for the person who had taken a pot shot at JFK to believe that the shots had been fired from that site.   And he also hid the rifle beneath that pallet of books because if he had left the rifle right there at the window it would have been found and traced to his PO box.   He wanted the rifle to be found but not until he had sufficient time to get out of the U.S. and on his way to Cuba. 

Lee had no part in luring the cops away from the Grassy Knoll....But the plotters who set him up most certainly wanted the cops lured away from the picket fence where one of the gunmen could have inadvertently left some evidence ..... Like a spent shell for example.

[Dan O'meara]

Because ...as another poster pointed out the spent shells were "bread crumbs"

This is a genuine possibility.
There is something so suspicious about the testimony involving the shells that it rings alarm bells.
It's why I raised the question of why a shooter should be so concerned about building a hiding place for the rifle, trying to wipe the rifle clean to destroy fingerprints, but then to leave the three shells lying there [and thereby giving away the location from where the shooting took place and connecting that location to the rifle].
It seems suspicious.

[Bill Chapman]

Leaving the shells = 'In-your-face' from Smirky

[Richard Smith]

And why bother going to the trouble of building a hiding place for the rifle, try to wipe it clean of all prints but leave the empty shells just lying there.

The rifle was in hand and useful in case Oswald encountered someone on the floor.  The shells were scattered about on the floor in front of the window from which he had just assassinated the president.  I'm not sure there is any reason to believe Oswald took the "trouble of building a hiding place for the rifle" on his way off the floor or tried to wipe it clean of prints.   My guess is that Oswald had placed the rifle on the 6th floor that morning when he first arrived.  The last thing he did before retrieving the rifle was to put his clipboard down.  He is holding the clipboard as a sort of prop to make it look as though he had some work-related reason to be on the 6th floor after noon should he encounter anyone.  He puts it down when he decides to get his rifle.  So he may have prepared some "hiding" place in advance and used it again on his way off the floor.  Isn't the better question always why his rifle was there in the first place? 

[Michael Walton]

I believe that when the rifle was found, the fact that the bolt was not closed and latched is a very strong indicator that the rifle was not fired that day.... Because if it had been fired, the shooter would have closed and latched the bolt by reflex action.   Don't believe it?.... Watch the video....   The man opens the bolt to extract and eject the spent round and then closes and latches the bolt, by reflex action, and re-aims the rifle and fires

The bolt was not closed and latched because it couldn't be closed and latched...And the reason it couldn't be closed and latched is because the yokel who hid the rifle beneath the pallet of boxes of books simply dropped the live round into the chamber.....and the carcano cannot be loaded in that manner.

Nice catch Walt. Very nice catch. To add further - and the breadcrumb shells - it's almost like they didn't want to hide a fully empty gun. So they just jammed one more bullet in there, perhaps to ensure that bullet matched the shells. And like the fake backyard photos, they got really greedy with those photos. It's one think to have a guy standing there with Lee's head pasted over it perhaps holding just the rifle. But no - they added in the pistol and even the left-wing newspapers too. Funnily enough, it goes against everything we know about Oswald.

[Walt Cakebread]

Nice catch Walt. Very nice catch. To add further - and the breadcrumb shells - it's almost like they didn't want to hide a fully empty gun. So they just jammed one more bullet in there, perhaps to ensure that bullet matched the shells. And like the fake backyard photos, they got really greedy with those photos. It's one think to have a guy standing there with Lee's head pasted over it perhaps holding just the rifle. But no - they added in the pistol and even the left-wing newspapers too. Funnily enough, it goes against everything we know about Oswald.

it's almost like they didn't want to hide a fully empty gun.

Yes sir, Mr Walton....  I believe that you're on the right track.   By leaving that live round in the rifle it lent a bit more credibility to the hoax the Lee was perpetrating.  ( He wanted Castro to believe that he had shot at JFK, just as he wanted Castro to believe that he had taken a shot at General Walker) 

[Walt Cakebread]

Yes, exactly. Great point. It makes no sense. Here we have a guy supposedly doing the deed up there, lets the shells fly all over the place [and one shell's rim was dented BTW] but takes the time to wipe down the gun and hide it. If there really had been someone up there and they took the shells too, think of the interesting ramifications that would entail about the official narrative. So I've always thought of the throw down shells as being like breadcrumbs for the story.

It reminds me of the Jeff MacDonald case - three strangers go into the home and cause all kinds of havoc on the women in there, leave old Jeff with a scratch, he supposedly fights them off, the coffee table is turned over, but all of the nick knacks on the curio shelf are undisturbed.

As for the gun itself, here's a variant of the rifle. I'm no gun expert but creaky to use. And per Pat Speer looking through the misaligned scope would have caused even more time per shot to look through it and find the target because of the warped view in a scope. He supposedly hit Kennedy in the back, loads, looks through the scope, scores a supposedly wild shot way off and downwind, loads and looks in it again and scores the head shot.

Sure, sure he did.

takes the time to wipe down the gun and hide it.

If Lee Oswald had been an assassin and he was firing that carcano from the sixth floor window.....WHEN would he have had the time needed to take the time to wipe down the gun and hide it.....?  You may recall that he was encountered in the second floor lunchroom, by officer Baker and Roy Truly just 90 seconds after the FIRST shot was fired.